Prince William shares his passion for conserving wildlife especially elephants which are usually the victim of poachers for its priceless ivory. He also brought the subject about the rhino's extinction during his speech on Thursday at The View from The Shard.
The duke speaks ahead of an important worldwide conference in Johannesburg of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) this weekend. Governments will be required to boost protection for monkeys, lions, pachyderms (elephnats) and almost 500 more species during the two weeks meeting.
It is believed that the elephant ivory international trade will be one of the most significant issues that will be tackled. Ivory trade is stringently prohibited, however, Namibia and Zimbabwe request the ban to be lifted in order to sell stockpiles and finance community conservation initiatives. The effort repudiates proposals put forward by a coalition of 29 other African regions that hope for an overall end to the ivory trade, The Guardian reported.
Prince William informed campaigners and policymakers alike at the event constituted by the conservation charity Tusk called Time for Change. He said that he was not ready to be a constituent of an epoch that allows the historic species cease to exist from the wild.
He said: "When I was born, there were one million elephants roaming Africa. By the time my daughter Charlotte was born last year, the numbers of savannah elephants had crashed to just 350,000. And at the current pace of illegal poaching, when Charlotte turns 25 the African elephant will be gone from the wild."
According to Mail Online, the illicit wildlife trade is now distinguished as the fourth biggest transnational crime in terms of value, following drugs, arms, and human trafficking. It is projected to be valued up to $20 billion (£15 billion) every year and is accountable for annihilating populations of rhino, elephant, and other lesser known species.
The Duke of Cambridge has made wildlife a crime while conservation is a personal motivation and has petitioned the rulers of China, the US, and African regions to reinforce wildlife protection.